The Laurels of Lake Constance
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
It is 1936, and Albert B. is one of the first French citizens to join the Fascist party. During the war, he becomes a collaborator. It's only a matter of time before he dons a German uniform himself.
Taking place in the limbo between the moment of Albert's initial "fall" and his inevitable capture, following the Allied invasion of Mainau, The Laurels of Lake Constance is the story not only of Albert himself, but of his daughter, who must endure the paradox of loving a man whose beliefs and allegiances are nothing short of catastrophic. Beautifully translated by novelist Harry Mathews, The Laurels of Lake Constance is a profoundly moving story about both war and childhood, and their intersection in one household, conjured in all its details, be they beautiful or shameful: a resigned mother playing music, a father absent, an era frozen in a tragic fresco where novelistic detail mixes with history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This unflinching biopic of a French collaborationist and his family through the eyes of young Marie, born in 1942, shines as much for its depictions of her father, Albert, and the fascist leader Doriot as for its subtle contextualizing of this dark episode in French history. Men like Albert's authoritarian father, Louis, brilliantly rendered, were hard-working patriots and war heroes whose fervent anticommunism aligned them with P tain and his "National Revolution" and ultimately resulted in much suffering. Marie's loyal, pious mother Alice is a touching archetype a devoted apolitical woman who never grasped what her husband was up to when he joined the notorious FPP and went on to become Doriot's right-hand man. Though the prose is often stiff, and historical documents, such as passages from Albert's trial diary and newspaper quotes, seem like an easy way to avoid dealing with the sordid implications of Albert's political engagement on a more personal level, this groundbreaking book, published in France in 1974, is a thrilling, uncompromising, and disturbing foray into French fascism. This heartfelt first English translation by Mathews is long overdue.
